markymark2000
On Moderation
For some history, the 550 did go via Birmingham for a while. About 7 years or so ago, it was Liverpool, Chester/Warrington then straight to Milton Keynes (with rest break at Norton Cannes) then into London. The route then got put into Birmingham and I think Milton Keynes removed I'd say about 3-4 years ago. Since then, Heathrow got added pre Covid.
I believe the pre Covid timetable ended up as Liverpool, Chester/Warrington, Birmingham, Heathrow, London or something thereabout
I'd love to see the 550 return to Chester. the new 551 replacement via Hanley takes longer and the fares if you want to go to Hanley are more expensive than going to Birmingham. Very strange.
Some other routes have understandable decline as NatEx won't put the busy trips back on (Hint 381 now 174 peak trip to Manchester AM, return PM hint), has a booking engine which refused to accept some towns exist despite the bus stopping and timetables showing (hint Abergele hint) and refusing to try and get at least some people on the bus by taking advantage of extremely busy corridors which often have more than overcrowded trains (hint Chester to North Wales Coast). Once hourly, quite fast routes are now replaced with less frequent runs taking longer (hint 060 Liverpool to Leeds, was hourly plus the 061 via the Airport. 060 scrapped, only the 061 or whatever it is now exists and takes longer via Manchester Airport rather than
That would be my explanation as to why some things are being strange. NatEx is being strange and so people are responding as such. You could probably add to that, not taking advantage of dead mileage to get more destinations at basically no cost (Selwyns Runcorn could stop at Runcorn and/or John Lennon Airport. Possibly Set down only, on request to Manchester Airport for Selwyns Sharston routes, use up dead miles, nice and cheap trip to run. there will be more of course)
I feel that NatEx just isn't as good as it once was. Not taking advantage of opportunities and focussing on a few places and stuff everyone else. Add to that, some operators aren't the best. One in particular, I always had issues, Wifi never showed up and if it did, it didn't work. Never had the VUER stuff even though it was advertised.
In my experience, the NX customer service hasn't helped. On par with Arriva I would say. You never get through to anyone with half a braincell and always get a bare basic standard reply which seems to have been selected by artificial intelligence and can have no relevance to the actual enquiry.
If NX looked at one or a few of these things, that could help push the numbers up. Numbers won't just flock back to the areas which they have abandoned. They will have to do some work to win people back on the reduced timetables which are limiting where people can go and opportunities where people could pick the coach, they aren't doing because it simply isn't fast or frequent like it used to be. The exception being a few key corridors which are on normal or close to normal pre Covid timetables combined with a lot of cheaper fares due to Flixbus.
I believe the pre Covid timetable ended up as Liverpool, Chester/Warrington, Birmingham, Heathrow, London or something thereabout
I'd love to see the 550 return to Chester. the new 551 replacement via Hanley takes longer and the fares if you want to go to Hanley are more expensive than going to Birmingham. Very strange.
Some other routes have understandable decline as NatEx won't put the busy trips back on (Hint 381 now 174 peak trip to Manchester AM, return PM hint), has a booking engine which refused to accept some towns exist despite the bus stopping and timetables showing (hint Abergele hint) and refusing to try and get at least some people on the bus by taking advantage of extremely busy corridors which often have more than overcrowded trains (hint Chester to North Wales Coast). Once hourly, quite fast routes are now replaced with less frequent runs taking longer (hint 060 Liverpool to Leeds, was hourly plus the 061 via the Airport. 060 scrapped, only the 061 or whatever it is now exists and takes longer via Manchester Airport rather than
That would be my explanation as to why some things are being strange. NatEx is being strange and so people are responding as such. You could probably add to that, not taking advantage of dead mileage to get more destinations at basically no cost (Selwyns Runcorn could stop at Runcorn and/or John Lennon Airport. Possibly Set down only, on request to Manchester Airport for Selwyns Sharston routes, use up dead miles, nice and cheap trip to run. there will be more of course)
I feel that NatEx just isn't as good as it once was. Not taking advantage of opportunities and focussing on a few places and stuff everyone else. Add to that, some operators aren't the best. One in particular, I always had issues, Wifi never showed up and if it did, it didn't work. Never had the VUER stuff even though it was advertised.
In my experience, the NX customer service hasn't helped. On par with Arriva I would say. You never get through to anyone with half a braincell and always get a bare basic standard reply which seems to have been selected by artificial intelligence and can have no relevance to the actual enquiry.
If NX looked at one or a few of these things, that could help push the numbers up. Numbers won't just flock back to the areas which they have abandoned. They will have to do some work to win people back on the reduced timetables which are limiting where people can go and opportunities where people could pick the coach, they aren't doing because it simply isn't fast or frequent like it used to be. The exception being a few key corridors which are on normal or close to normal pre Covid timetables combined with a lot of cheaper fares due to Flixbus.